Japanese chip makers look forward to a merry Xmas

Price hike declared ahead of busy period

Top Japanese chip makers have been upping prices to major PC vendors in preparation for the pre-Christmas stampede. NEC and Mitsubishi were among vendors reported to have agreed with PC manufacturers in Japan and worldwide to sell 64MB DRAM at Y780-Y880 a unit for September delivery. This represents a hike of around 14 per cent on the previous month, according to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun on Saturday. IBM and Compaq were said to have agreed to fork out between $10.10 and $10.30 per unit for contract price chips delivered in the first half of October, up 50 per cent from a month earlier. But the two giants of the PC world fared far better than those paying spot prices. Thanks to the panic buying in the aftermath of the Taiwanese earthquake, prices touched $20 per chip at one point. Today spot prices were quoted at $16. ®